So — Is The Jig Up? September 4, 2026September 4, 2026 Once, there were but a few hundred thousand humans on Earth. The day I arrived: 2.5 billion. Today: 8.3 billion. All told, since the beginning, 120 billion of us, give or take. AnyHumanEver lets you pick one at random (and then another and another and another) to see when and where and how they lived. It calls to mind John Rawls’ veil of ignorance, a hugely important concept (if you ask me), of which I had never heard until, 25 years ago, I asked Warren Buffett why he’s a Democrat. That’s why, he explained. And it made perfect sense. A.I. Is Outsmarting Its Creators This is the most interesting, disturbing podcast I’ve ever heard. (Or read the transcript here.) From the start, the greatest fear for those developing artificial intelligence was that their creations would go rogue to act in unauthorized and dangerous ways. Some researchers now say it has happened. Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times, explains what this means for his own dwindling sense of techno-optimism. I have the happy gene, as you know; and plan to live forever, as I may have told you. But this human experiment seems to be coming to a boil, and it sure would be nice to have really wise, competent leaders in places like Beijing and Washington to steer it in the right direction. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Food For Thought September 4, 2026 IT’S TERRIBLE, BUT IT’S NOT GENOCIDE Anymore, I think these authors would argue, than was our dropping atom bombs on Japan until they surrendered, years after their devastating surprise attack. I found this to be a most thoughtful essay. A FORMER MAGAN APOLOGIZES TO A MAGA VICTIM Don Lemon Interviews Rich Logis I know and admire them both. It is a compelling 27 minutes (at 1.5X speed): two smart people trying to make sense of the cult. (But what sense do cults ever make? They are cults.) GLORIA STEINEM’S FINAL ESSAY I don’t think we ever spoke, but the third floor of 207 East 32nd Street that housed Clay Felker’s NEW YORK Magazine back then was not large, and we surely were within feet of each other from time to time. Looking back, even that was a privilege. I remember well the week Ms. Magazine was first launched as an insert in NEW YORK, and Clay’s commitment to the endeavor. What a wonderful, consequential life: Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay | The New Yorker
They’re Leaving! September 3, 2026September 3, 2026 Well, not all at once, but more and more MAGAns are feeling betrayed. He promised to lower prices — they’ve gone up. He promised no new wars — and started a huge one. He promised terrific health care “at a tiny fraction of the cost” — and has yet to reveal, after 10 years, even his “concept of a plan.” He promised to pay down the debt — and has added massively to it. He promised to appoint only “the best people” — and has appointed lackeys and incompetents. He promised to deport “the worst of the worst” — and sends harmless, helpless asylum seekers . . . in shackles, no less . . . to the Central African Republic. He promised to release the Epstein files without unnecessary redactions — and has not. He promised to drain the swamp — and runs the most corrupt administration in American history. He swore an oath to the Constitution — and regularly flouts it. Everything he touches dies. Having doubts? [ask the billboards now in 27 states that some of you have helped to finance] You’re not alone. www.leavingMAGA.ORG From The Guardian: Life after Maga: the group offering an ‘exit ramp’ for right-wingers questioning Trumpism. KANSAS! Also from The Guardian: Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1932. Will that change in November? From The New Yorker: Adam Hamilton and Taking Back Religion from the Right Democratic socialists are getting more of the attention, but Democratic Christians may prove more influential this November. (Note that there are about 100,000 members of the Democratic Socialists of America — none of whom to my knowledge has been elected to public office or endorsed by the likes of Bernie Sanders or AOC* — and more than 200 million Americans who identify as Christians.) Want to meet this wonderful man? Founder and pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the country, with 24,000 Kansan congregants? Me-Mail me. SO FUN, SO IMPORTANT So I’m plugging it again: This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy by Ben Wikler. The best thing you could do, after reading it yourself, is to get it in front of a child or grandchild eager to do something meaningful. BONUS The Kennedy Center: It’s Even Worse Than You Think! I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition! *Though with hundreds of thousands of elected officials in the country I could be missing a couple.
Promises / Chutzpah / Stock Updates September 1, 2026 PROMISES Trump’s Broken Promises, in 11 Charts Share widely. And if you have time . . . > THE SUPREME BALLROOM Robert Reich: . . . [Five Supreme Court Justices] said the preservationists who challenged the construction of the planned ballroom lacked standing to bring their lawsuit because they were not directly harmed by the project. That lawsuit was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to guard public buildings. If this organization doesn’t have standing to complain about Trump’s mayhem on the People’s House, I can’t imagine who would. . . . Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined with the court’s three Democratic-appointed justices in dissent, saying the construction was “likely unlawful.” He reasoned that because the White House is “an iconic American building whose symbolism and history are wrapped up in its architecture,” it’s important that “those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.” By the majority’s pathetic logic, Trump could raze the entire White House and put up a Trump tower in its place, or take down the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and erect monuments to himself, and no one would have standing to complain. As you know, Everything Trump Touches Dies. Look how well the Kennedy Center and the Reflecting Pool are doing. And our alliances around the world (though he has forged a special relationship with Putin and trades love letters with Kim Jong Un). And Trump’s casinos, Trump University, Trump airline, Trump steaks, Trump vitamins, Trump mortgages, Trump meme coins, Trump marriages, Trump’s “charity.” And an independent Justice Department, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Executive Branch competence and integrity generally. And civility and norms and the respect for the rule of law. But there I go again. > CHUTZPAH Dekleptocracy Alliance President Kristofer Harrison: The One Golf Course Trump Won’t Play A South Korean conglomerate paid a Trump family business $2 million last year for a golf course that does not exist. “The payment sits in the books as a nonrefundable ‘development fee,’ meaning the money went in and nothing came out. > STOCK UPDATES . . . CHRB Three years ago, I wrote: If all goes well, we get $25 when the notes are redeemed plus $6 along the way, so $31 on a $13.50 investment. Yesterday, all went well. Case closed. . . . PRKR When this endless saga dipped below 8 cents a share three weeks ago, I bought yet more — I have a zillion shares — and meant to suggest you consider doing the same (though only with money, obviously, you can truly afford to lose) but then it bounced back to a dime and I figured I’d wait for it to drop again. Now it’s 15 cents. With something like 200 million shares outstanding, that gives it a market valuation of “only” $30 million. I put “only” in quotes both because to you or me, $30 million is a lot of money, and because, well, if ParkerVision never wins any of its lawsuits, its stock will be worth zero, which makes $30 million look very large indeed. The hope is that it will win or settle one or more of its suits, and for what could net it — who knows? $100 million? $500 million? More? This remains a total crap shoot, but I believe — as a jury in just one of the cases also believed — to the tune of $174 million in 2013 — that their claims are valid. (A judge seemed to affirm the verdict, but then six months later — unexpectedly, and under what might be considered suspicious circumstances — threw the whole thing out.) So who knows? Case definitely not closed. . . . YTRA I haven’t written about this one in a long time. It is one of the largest travel agencies in India. I wish I hadn’t suggested it seven years ago at $4. It recently received an unsolicited partial tender offer for 30 million shares at $1.10 each. I’m not tendering. I think it could eventually be worth a lot more (as does, presumably, whoever is offering the $1.10). . . . BOREF My albatross. No brokerage firm I know of will buy or sell shares; I see no quote listed; and the vast number of shares I have at Schwab are valued at $2 each in one account (with a footnote cautioning me not to rely on that quote) and at $0 in another account — at the same firm. I think one clearly has to assume our shares are or will be worthless . . . and yet the technology and business model are terrific and who knows? There’s always the chance, faint though it may be, that they will find the right investor or strategic partner to breathe life into the dream. It’s only been 27 years now. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Ron, Jerry, And Ben August 31, 2026August 31, 2026 Ronald Reagan: On Canada. One minute not to be missed. Jerry Weintraub: When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead. I had so much fun listening — though I suppose it would be equally fun to read it with your eyes. (Is that still a thing?) Talk about chutzpah! From Bob Dylan and Elvis to the Mob and Sinatra to Armand Hammer (the only man ever to have been friends with both Lenin and Reagan) and Brad Pitt, Bobby Fischer, George Clooney and George H.W. Bush — this book is a total hoot. Ben Wikler: This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy. Likewise! A great read, totally engaging — and a million times more important. Listen: I’ve been trying to be helpful ever since, 28 years ago, some idiot in the White House suggested I be DNC treasurer. (Hi, Richard.) So I know some of this stuff. And some of the people he writes about. And Ben himself! But I learned a LOT. The best thing you could do, after reading it yourself, is to get it in front of a child or grandchild eager to do something meaningful. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Ay-eye-ay-aye — Oh! August 29, 2026August 29, 2026 But first . . . This week’s Indivisible “What’s The Plan” — How to Fix This MAGA Supreme Court featuring Elie Mystal — was really, really interesting. If you can find time, I think you’ll learn a lot. I did. Listen! And now . . . Perhaps even more consequential (and that’s saying something): AI is making everything worse. The least of it (but I can’t resist): Here’s a fun fact for you: More cops have been arrested for stalking women using Flock cameras than there are trans athletes in sports. The one thing Garrett Graff doesn’t address — a very big thing — is what to do about A.I.’s downsides. Hard as it is to imagine our getting one, the world clearly needs a really smart international treaty to try to give humans a chance to control how A.I. develops before it decides that for itself.
Taking Back Religion — And Trump’s Attempt to Annex Canada August 27, 2026 ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS Adam Hamilton and Taking Back Religion from the Right Snippets: . . . While many observers are focused on the emergence of the Democratic Socialists of America (who boast a total membership of just over a hundred thousand), a more important trend in the Democratic Party may be the resurgence of the once dominant and long-dormant mainline Protestant tradition [which may be more like 45 million]. . . . The first public moment of resistance in Trump’s second term came immediately, during the Inaugural prayer service, when the Episcopal bishop of the District of Columbia, Mariann Budde, asked him to “have mercy” on gay, immigrant, and other marginalized Americans. The President, naturally, responded by saying that the bishop was a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” who owed him an apology, and whose service had been “very boring and uninspiring.” . . . At sixty-two, [Adam Hamilton] has been a minister for thirty-six years. He’s running for Senate, he says, to “build bridges” across political divides, and he seems more likely than most to have a shot at succeeding. He’s not just a Methodist pastor, he’s the founding pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the country. . . . [Hamilton’s] kind of progressive theological clarity is showing up in many places. Another prominent American Christian, Pope Leo XIV, has been straightforward in condemning both the Trump Administration’s treatment of immigrants and its prosecution of the war: the Gospel says to welcome strangers; Catholic teaching back to Augustine says a just war must be defensive. “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” the Pope said in April, not long after Trump had posted and then deleted an artificially generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure. Worth reading in full. (In case you’d like to meet Reverend Hamilton at a small gathering in New York next month — with David Letterman — me-mail me.) OH, CANADA When [Prime Minister Mark] Carney stood at that podium Saturday and said the Americans “asked too much and offered too little,” everyone assumed he was talking about dairy quotas and hockey stick tariffs. He wasn’t. This was an annexation attempt with a cover page . . . . . . I want to be precise here because there’s a document floating around on social media claiming to summarize the US demands, and about half of it is fabricated. Ignore it. You don’t need the fake version. The real version, confirmed by Carney’s own mouth and sourced reporting, is damning enough on its own. . . . Again, worth reading in full. If this writer is correct, Trump’s trade war on Canada will prove to have been one of his bigger mistakes. And that’s saying something. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
The Mar-A-Lago Mafia August 25, 2026 MUST SHARE The Solo cups never lie: Here’s which party is better on the economy, jobs, and the debt. MUST SHARE II The President of Kazakhstan calls Trump, don of the Mar-A-Lago mafia (2 minutes). R.I.P. Though I never met her, I felt I knew Dolly Parton; and, like everyone, I really liked her. Here she is with my then-partner Scot Haller, whom we lost to AIDS 36 years ago: And here’s a remembrance that has to make you smile. Especially the part about her entering — and losing — a Dolly Parton look-alike contest. CLEAR THINKING ON IRAN From Foreign Affairs: Maximum Pressure on Iran Will Fail. I hope they’re wrong; but then I had hoped he’d make good on the bonds he once issued, too. I figured: with his own name on the bonds, he’d never let them default. Plus — how can lose money running a casino? Everything Trump Touches Dies. Bad news for almost everyone — though not China, Russia, North Korea, or the measles. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Has The WSJ Gone Commie? August 24, 2026 Anyone who opposes our great leader — anyone who denies he had the largest Inaugural crowd in history or that he won the stolen election of 2020 or that the reflecting pool was slashed by vandals . . . anyone who doubts he has the concept of a plan for “great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost” or who wants to see the redacted parts of the Epstein files or who questions his bulldozing of the White House or his going to war with Iran without Congressional approval . . . or who doesn’t agree the economy he was handed (“the envy of the world,” as The Economist described it) was a disaster — all those people are scum and vermin, or, at the very least, radical lunatics (and, “low IQ” if they happen to be black). And now the Republican line is that Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders (who is not a member of a group called the Democratic Socialists of America, which has platform planks like getting rid of police and prisons that no one actually running for office supports) are all full-on socialists or communists. So I wonder: IS AOC A COMMIE? Watch her answer here. (Sorry to shout, but I really hope you watch — 90 seconds). HOW ABOUT THE FAMOUSLY RIGHT-WING WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD? Sunday, the Journal’s editors reiterated their February, 2025, headline — The Dumbest Trade War in History — with The Dumbest Trade War Revisited, finding it, if anything, even dumber. It’s a sad day when the Wall Street Journal editorial board has gone communist. Or could it be that they’ve just gone anti-stupid, anti-incompetent, anti-reckless, anti-thug, anti-fascist? BONUS QUESTION: COULD ANNIE ANDREWS BEAT LINDSEY GRAHAM’S SISTER? Pete Buttigieg thinks so (50 seconds). Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Vaguely Related Good News August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 IT’S THE DATA CENTERS, STUPID Or so argues Ryan Busse here. What Democrats should do, he says (in effect) is demagog this issue. That might certainly work in specific districts where voters — quite reasonably — oppose data centers. But as a nation we are surely going to need them, because artificial intelligence is the future, scary though that is in many ways — I’m an apocaloptimist, as you may recall — and ceding the future to China is probably not the best idea. So, no: it’s not the data centers, at least as a national policy plank. (Vaguely related good news: China will not be invading Taiwan any time soon. For more, ask your A.I. Which is why we need data centers.) (More vaguely related good news: the harder it is to find sites for data centers, the more valuable, I like to think, RNGE‘s business model of reclaiming abandoned Appalachian mine sites for use as data centers becomes. I think the stock, though up five-fold from where we bought it, could climb another ten-fold over the next few years — though a bet to be made ONLY with money you can truly afford to lose.) AI APOCALYPSE . . . NOW? A discussion on Pod Save America that might be of interest: Is AI set to destroy the world, or could it all just be a bubble? Why does Sam Altman want ChatGPT to monitor everything you do on your computer? Who is set to win the AI Game of Thrones? Casey Newton, editor of the tech newsletter Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork, joins Tommy to talk about the hype and doom surrounding the world-changing technology and to unpack what could happen to us now that AI models are learning to outsmart their creators. The two discuss the eccentric billionaires recklessly promoting the industry, how far behind the United States is when it comes to AI guardrails, and why Silicon Valley doesn’t seem to understand what Americans actually want from the technology. Have a great week. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!